The present invention relates to an absorbent product such as a diaper, a pant diaper, an incontinence shield or the like, of the type according to the preamble of claim 1, and methods for making such products according to the preamble of claims 10 and 11.
An absorbent product of this type is known from WO-A 95/25493. A diaper made according to the teachings of this document comprises a top sheet of flexible material and a bottom sheet of liquid-impermeable material and an absorbent body contained between them. The top sheet is provided with a front and a rear longitudinal openings, the front opening being intended to receive urine and the rear opening being intended to receive faeces. The openings are separated by a bridge of top sheet material. The top sheet is free of connection to the absorbent body in the region of the openings. It is desirable in such products to prevent faeces coming into contact with the genitals of users particularly females users. In order to prevent faeces moving forward and coming into contact with the part of the absorbent body intended to receive urine an additional piece of flexible material is provided which extends transversely across the diaper between the absorbent body and the top sheet in the region between the two openings and which is fastened to both the absorbent body and the top sheet. This additional piece of material forms a barrier which prevents faeces from entering into the part of the absorbent body onto which urine is discharged and thus prevents faeces from coming into contact with the genitals of the user. The use of an additional piece of material to form such a barrier complicates the manufacturing process and leads to increased material costs.
An object of the present invention is to provide, in a simple and more cost-effective manner, a barrier which will help prevent faeces discharged onto the absorbent body moving forward into the region intended to receive urine.
This object is achieved by using the material which is cut out of the top sheet when forming the openings as the barrier material.
According to an embodiment of the invention the material which is cut to form one of the openings in the top surface is left attached to the top sheet at the end of the opening which is nearest to the other opening in order to form a flap or tongue of top sheet material. This flap is then bent, along its line of attachment with the top sheet, towards the absorbent body and the end and/or sides of the flap furthest away from the line of attachment are fastened to the absorbent body. In this way a barrier is formed without requiring any additional material.
In another embodiment of the invention the material in the form of a flap from one opening is used to form a first barrier as described above while the material in the form of a flap from the other opening is used to form a second barrier. This second flap is longitudinally slit to form two flap halves. These flap halves are first bent, along the line of attachment with the top sheet, towards the absorbent body and then folded at an angle to the line of attachment so that they project sideways. The ends and/or sides of the flap halves are then joined to the absorbent body at a lateral position which is preferably further from the longitudinal centreline of the product than the first barrier. In this way a barrier with a greater lateral reach is provided.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention one flap is displaced and attached to the underlying surface or absorbent body offset to one side of a longitudinal centre line while the other is displaced and attached offset to the other side of the longitudinal centre-line. In this way a zigzag path is provided between front and rear parts of the diaper. This effectively prevents faeces from moving forwards while at the same time it allows urine to pass back into the rear part of the diaper which increases the amount of absorption material available to receive urine.
In another embodiment of the invention the material which is cut to form one of the openings in the top surface is completely removed from the top surface to form a strip of material which is then fastened between the underside of the top surface and the absorbent body in a suitable position to form a barrier.